(1957-07-26) July 26, 1957 (age 66) Fresno, California, U.S.
Title
Grandmaster (1985)
FIDE rating
2445 (June 2024)
Peak rating
2610 (January 1999)
Nicholas Ernest de Firmian (born July 26, 1957) is an American chess player who received the FIDE title of Grandmaster (GM) in 1985. He is a three-time U.S. chess champion, winning in 1987 (with Joel Benjamin), 1995, and 1998. He also tied for first in 2002, but Larry Christiansen won the playoff. He is also a chess writer, most famous for his work in writing the 13th, 14th, and 15th editions of the important chess opening treatise Modern Chess Openings.[1] He was born in Fresno, California.
He has represented the United States at several Interzonals and played on the United States Olympiad teams of 1980, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1996, 1998, and 2000.[2] De Firmian earned the International Master title in 1979 and the GM title in 1985. Beginning in the 1990s, he lived for many years in Denmark. He currently resides in California.
He won the 1983 Canadian Open Chess Championship. In 1986, he won the World Open and the first prize of $21,000, at that time a record for a Swiss system tournament. De Firmian was a founding member of Prochess, a grandmaster advocacy group dedicated to promoting chess in the United States. He has a degree in physics from the University of California, Berkeley.[3]
De Firmian is a noted expert on chess openings and in 1990 he revised Modern Chess Openings, 13th edition (MCO-13). In 1999 he wrote the 14th edition of Modern Chess Openings (MCO-14), which, along with Nunn's Chess Openings (NCO), is considered an outstanding single volume opening reference in English. He also helped prepare the chess opening book for the IBM Deep Blue team for its successful 1997 match with Garry Kasparov.[3]
In 2006 he revised and expanded the classic 1921 book Chess Fundamentals, by José Capablanca. The edition was harshly criticized by chess historian Edward Winter, who claimed that de Firmian "destroyed" the book by changing Capablanca's writing and removing games from previous editions to include new games not played by Capablanca.[4] De Firmian also wrote the 15th edition of MCO, published in April 2008.
Ca. 2012, de Firmian began a scholastic chess program with the Mechanics Institute in San Francisco.[5]
^"Nick E. de Firmian". World Chess Hall of Fame. March 23, 2017. Retrieved August 9, 2021.
^Wojciech Bartelski. "OlimpBase Men's Chess Olympiads Nick De Firmian". Olimpbase.org. Retrieved March 12, 2012.
^ abPenguin Random House, Nick De Firmian ABOUT THE AUTHOR
^Winter, Edward "Capablanca Goes Algebraic" Chess Notes
^Adisa Banjoko, US Chess Rising: Adisa Banjoko with de Firmian & Donaldson, May 19, 2017. Retrieved January 26, 2020.
Nicholas Ernest deFirmian (born July 26, 1957) is an American chess player who received the FIDE title of Grandmaster (GM) in 1985. He is a three-time...
tournament players". The fifteenth edition, by American grandmaster NickdeFirmian, was published in 2008. The book is commonly referred to as MCO today...
famously claimed that the Vienna Game led to a forced win for White. NickdeFirmian concludes in the 15th edition of Modern Chess Openings, however, that...
assisted on certain editions by Jack Collins, Larry Evans, and NickdeFirmian; Evans and deFirmian have held the U.S. Championship. The first twelve editions...
history; the fifteenth edition (commonly called MCO-15), by Grandmaster NickdeFirmian, was published in April 2008. According to Hooper and Whyld, the various...
Dzindzichashvili, Lubomir Kavalek, Larry Christiansen, Walter Browne, Lev Alburt, NickdeFirmian 1986 27th Chess Olympiad Dubai, United Arab Emirates Soviet Union...
championships 41 1995 NickdeFirmian (2) Patrick Wolff (2) Alexander Ivanov 42 1996 Alex Yermolinsky (2) 43 1997 Joel Benjamin (2) 44 1998 NickdeFirmian (3)...
chases the queen with Nc3, or 0-0, Re1, and a move by the bishop on e2. NickdeFirmian in Modern Chess Openings analyses instead 4...d5 5.d3 dxe4 6.dxe4,...
Tartakower & Jules du Mont, 500 Master Games of Chess, Dover, 1952, p651 NickdeFirmian, Batsford's Modern Chess Openings, 2014 Les Bunning, Miles known for...
Benjamin was the U.S. Chess Champion in 1987 (sharing the title with NickdeFirmian), in 1997, and in 2000. He won the Saint John Open I in 1988, and the...
like Nunn's Chess Openings (NCO) and Modern Chess Openings (MCO) by NickdeFirmian and Walter Korn aim to cover as many opening systems as possible at...
von Firmian (1708–1783), Austrian bishop and cardinal Leopold Maximilian von Firmian (1766–1831), Bishop of Lavant, Archbishop of Salzburg Nickde Firmian...
ISBN 1-904600-28-X. DeFirmian, Nick (2008). Modern Chess Openings: MCO-15. Random House Puzzles & Games. ISBN 978-0812936827. NickdeFirmian is a three-time...
Joe Gallagher (1999), Nunn's Chess Openings. ISBN 1-85744-221-0. NickdeFirmian, Walter Korn (1999), Modern Chess Openings: MCO-14. ISBN 0-8129-3084-3...
Preceded by Lev Alburt United States Chess Champion 1986 Succeeded by NickdeFirmian and Joel Benjamin Preceded by Michael Wilder United States Chess Champion...
in Black and White, David McKay, 2004, p. 342. ISBN 0-8129-3571-3. NickdeFirmian, Modern Chess Openings, 15th Edition (commonly referred to as MCO-15)...
Chess Openings (MCO) (revised editions 7 through 12, 13th revised by NickdeFirmian), which was considered an authoritative work on the openings of chess...
In the Open section four players tied for 1st with a score of 7–1: NickdeFirmian, John Fedorowicz, Dmitry Gurevich and Eugene Meyer. 1983 – The 11th...
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